Providing well-being and wellness services are growing trends in tourism. Well-being tourism has considerable potential as well with respect to tourism in rural areas. The objective of this article is to study well-being tourists as a heterogeneous market segment via activity-based segmentation in rural areas. Their online information search behaviour is compared to that of other market segments to ensure that the various segments can be targeted online and to elaborate upon the information search behaviour of various activity segments. Using cluster analysis, three different rural tourist segments can be identified in Finland based on their well-being activities. The results show the possibilities for activity-based segmentation in understanding the preferences for well-being services. The study demonstrates that the various rural well-being activity segments differ from each other based on socio-demographics and in how they use the Internet to search for information, book their holidays and write online reviews. All of these differences have managerial implications when it comes to developing rural well-being products, and they also demonstrate the possibilities for activity segmentation in rural well-being tourism.
AlmeidaAMMCorreiaAPimpãoA (2014) Segmentation by benefits sought: the case of rural tourism in Madeira. Current Issues in Tourism17(9): 813–831.
2.
BrownDM (2012) Rural tourism. In: SebaJA (ed) Tourism and Hospitality Issues and Developments. Toronto & New York: Apple Academic Press, pp. 107–112.
3.
BuhalisDLawR (2008) Progress in information technology and tourism management: 20 years on and 10 years after the Internet – the state of eTourism research. Tourism Management29(4): 609–623.
4.
BushellRSheldonPJ (2009a) Wellness and Tourism; Mind, Body, Spirit, Place. New York, Sidney, Tokyo: Cognizant Communication Corporation.
5.
BushellRSheldonPJ (2009b) Wellness tourism and the future. In: BushellRSheldonPJ (eds) Wellness and Tourism; Mind, Body, Spirit, Place. New York, Sidney, Tokyo: Cognizant Communication Corporation, pp. 218–230.
CawleyMGillmorD (2008) Integrated rural tourism: concepts and practice. Annals of Tourism Research35(2): 316–337.
8.
ChenJSPrebensenN (2009) Wellness as tourist motivation, case of Taiwan. In: BushellRSheldonPJ (eds) Wellness and Tourism; Mind, Body, Spirit, Place. New York, Sidney, Tokyo: Cognizant Communication Corporation, pp. 231–238.
9.
ChoiWTsangC (2000) Activity based segmentation on pleasure travel market of Hong Kong private housing residents. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing8(1): 75–97.
10.
CohenMBodekerG (2008) Understanding Global Spa Industry: Spa Management. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
11.
CooperM (2009) Aspects of management and marketing in health and wellness spa tourism. In: Erfurt-CooperPCooperM (eds) Health and Wellness Tourism Spas and Hot Springs. Aspects of Tourism. Bristol, Buffalo, Toronto: Channel View Publications, pp. 207–238.
DolnicarSGrünB (2007) Cross-cultural differences in survey response patterns. International Marketing Review24(2): 127–143.
14.
Erfurt-CooperPCooperM (2009) Health and Wellness Tourism Spas and Hot Springs. Aspects of Tourism. Bristol, Buffalo, Toronto: Channel View Publications.
15.
FodnessDMurrayB (1997) Tourist information search. Annals of Tourism Research24(3): 503–523.
16.
FrochotI (2005) A benefit segmentation of tourists in rural areas: a Scottish perspective. Tourism Management26(3): 335–346.
17.
FTB (2005) Hyvinvointi- ja Wellness – Matkailun Peruskartoitus [Mapping of Wellbeing and Wellness Tourism]. Helsinki: Matkailun edistämiskeskus, MEK A:144.
18.
GrønflatenØ (2009) The tourist information matrix – differentiating between sources and channels in the assessment of travellers’ information search. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism9(1): 39–64.
19.
HairJBlackWBabinB. (2010) Multivariate Data Analysis. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
20.
HalfacreeK (2006) From dropping out to lading on? British counter-cultural back-to-the-land in a changing rurality. Progress in Human Geography30(3): 309–336.
21.
HjalagerA-MFlagestadA (2012) Innovations in well-being tourism in the Nordic countries. Current Issues in Tourism15(8): 725–740.
22.
HjalagerA-MTervo-KankareKTuohinoA. (2015) PROWELL – Towards New Understanding of Rural Wellbeing Tourism. Esbjerg: University of Southern Denmark: Danish Centre for Rural Research.
23.
HuttunenP (2011) Personal interview on 13 September 2011.
24.
JaniDJangJ-HHwangY-H (2011) Personality and tourists’ internet behaviour. In: LawRFuchsMRicciF (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism2011. Germany: Springer, pp. 587–596.
25.
KangasHTuohinoA (2008) Lake wellness – uusi itäsuomalainen innovaatio? [Lake Wellness – a new innovation from Eastern Finland?]Matkailututkimus4(1): 23–41.
26.
KastenholzEDavisDPaulG (1999) Segmenting tourism in rural areas: the case of North and Central Portugal. Journal of Travel Research37(4): 353–363.
27.
KellyCSmithM (2009) Holistic tourism: integrating body, mind, spirit. In: BushellRSheldonP (eds) Wellness Tourism: Mind, Body, Spirit, Place. New York, Sydney, Tokyo: Cognizant Communication Corporation, pp. 127–143.
KonuHTuohinoABjörkP (2014) Wellbeing tourism in Finland. In: SmithMPuczkoL (eds) Health Tourism and Hospitality. Spas, Wellness and Medical Travel. New York: Routledge, pp. 345–349.
McKercherBHoPDu CrosH. (2002) Activities-based segmentation of the cultural tourism market. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing12(1): 23–46.
32.
Medina-MuñozDMedina-MuñozR (2013) Critical issues in health and wellness tourism: an exploratory study of visitors to wellness centres on Gran Canaria. Current Issues in Tourism16(5): 415–435.
33.
MehmetogluM (2007) Typologising nature-based tourists by activity – theoretical and practical implications. Tourism Management28(3): 651–660.
34.
MoleraLAlbaladejoI (2007) Profiling segments of tourists in rural areas of South-Eastern Spain. Tourism Management28(3): 757–767.
35.
MottiarZQuinnD (2004) Couple dynamics in household tourism decision making: women as the gatekeepers?Journal of Vacation Marketing10(2): 149–160.
36.
MuiluT (2010) Needs for rural research in the northern Finland context. Journal of Rural Studies26(1): 73–80.
37.
MurphyJOlaruD (2009) How information foraging styles relate to tourism demographics and behaviours. Journal of Vacation Marketing15(4): 299–309.
38.
MusaGThirumoorthiTDoshiD (2012) Travel behaviour among inbound medical tourists in Kuala Lumpur. Current Issues in Tourism15(6): 525–543.
39.
MüllerHKauffmannE (2001) Wellness tourism: market analysis of a special health tourism segment and implications for the hotel industry. Journal of Vacation Marketing7(1): 5–17.
40.
OhJSchuettM (2010) Exploring expenditure-based segmentation for rural tourism: overnight stay visitors versus excursionists to fee-fishing sites. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing27(1): 31–50.
41.
ParkD-BYoonY-S (2009) Segmentation by motivation in rural tourism: a Korean case study. Tourism Management30(1): 99–108.
42.
PearceDSchottC (2005) Tourism distribution channels: the visitors’ perspective. Journal of Travel Research44: 50–63.
43.
PesonenJ (2012) Segmentation of rural tourists: combining push and pull motivations. Tourism and Hospitality Management18(1): 69–82.
44.
PesonenJ (2013) Information and communications technology and market segmentation in tourism: a review. Tourism Review68(2): 14–30.
45.
PesonenJ (2014) Testing segment stability: insights from a rural tourism study. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing31(6): 697–711.
46.
PesonenJ (2015) Targeting Rural tourists in the internet: comparing travel motivation and activity-based segments. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing32: 211–226.
47.
PesonenJKomppulaR (2010) Rural wellbeing tourism: motivations and expectations. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management17(1): 150–157.
48.
PesonenJLaukkanenTKomppulaR (2011) Benefit segmentation of potential wellbeing tourists. Journal of Vacation Marketing17(4): 303–314.
49.
RobertsLHallD (2004) Consuming the countryside: marketing for ‘rural tourism’. Journal of Vacation Marketing10(3): 253–263.
50.
SharpleyRSharpleyJ (1997) Rural Tourism: An Introduction. London: International Thomson Business Press.
51.
ShenHWangXWangM (2012) Development and research of rural tourism. In: SebaJA (ed) Tourism and Hospitality Issues and Developments. Toronto & New York: Apple Academic Press, pp. 113–119.
52.
SmithMPuczkóL (2009) Health and Wellness Tourism. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann.
53.
SmithMPuczkóL (2014) Health, Tourism and Hospitality. Spas, Wellness and Medical Travel. New York: Routledge.
TkaczynskiAPrebensenN (2012) French nature-based tourist potentials to Norway: Who are they?Tourism Analysis17(2): 181–193.
56.
TkaczynskiARundle-ThieleSPrebensenN (2013) Segmenting potential nature-based tourists based on temporal factors: the case of Norway. Journal of Travel Research54: 251–265.
VepsäläinenKPitkänenK (2010) Second home countryside. Representation of the rural in Finnish popular discourses. Journal of Rural Studies26(2): 194–204.
